Cassiopeia is an imperial porter brewed for the onset of winter. Black as the night sky, our imperial porter is brewed from a blend of premium dark malts chosen for their complex caramel/chocolately/fruity qualities. Cool-fermented with a clean Scotch ale yeast that emphasizes malty richness and earthy, mossy aromatics-think of Cassiopeia as a Baltic Porter fermented like a Wee Heavy. This velvety, warming ale is surprisingly well attenuated, light on the palate and digestible.

Poured from a 22 oz bomber into an over-sized snifter. The bottle had the ABV (9%) on the label, however on the breweries website it is noted as 9.3%. Not a big difference, but still thought I'd make a note of it. Printed on the lower right half of the label is "Release no" and "Bottled on", however they probably forgot to print the actual release number or bottling date, unless it has been printed using invisible ink. If you were to go to the website, it does say batch# 4. Okay, moving on to what matters most: A: Almost pitch black in color, with just a little light passing along the edges. One finger frothy head that dissipates fairly quickly S: Not much of an aroma to this porter, just some faint bitter notes. Perhaps with time the aroma might develop, considering this was a pretty fresh bottleT: This is very the beer scores big. Lots of chocolate, right from the front to the finish. Hints of smoke try to come through the sweet chocolate malt notes. M: Great mouthfeel to this porter; smooth and crisp. O: This is a really good porter and DOES NOT drink as a 9% beer by any means. The alcohol is very well hidden. A very well balanced and tasty porter. I think I might be looking for a couple more bottles to see how it ages. Definitely worth a try.

Cassiopeia does indeed look 'Grimm' - it's too dark and opaque to have a shadow. Named after a constellation, there's little brightness here; it looks more like the northern sky than any of its stars. Its drab, greyish head, however, does leaves a nebulae of lacing on the glass.

The aroma has plenty of biscuits, buttermilk, milk chocolate well as darker, more intense notes of espresso and burnt grain. It presents an awful lot of flavour without being too intimidating; I'm not shaking in my boots, but I am thinking this is a beer to be respected and not rushed.

The taste is even better and contains even more flavour than the aroma let on. There's Maltesers milk chocolates, fudge, roasted malts, and black coffee. On the whole, the flavour is rather milky-sweet (like chocolate milk) and has a Schwarzbier-like profile.

Indeed, this medium-bodied, malt-accented dark brew isn't exactly harsh, burnt or acrid but still manages to impress a profound amount of tastes and textures. It's a clever balance: there's dark, bitter notes of raw, unrefined cocoa but also a sweet, delectable Milk-Dud-like character.

It'd be hard to make a better first impression than Cassiopeia; if ever there was a beer to convince me to try a brewery's other beers, surely this is it. It manages to conceal a great deal of character within an incredibly approachable, agreeable framework. It has mainstream appeal but also plenty of bold, craft beer character for those geeks out there.

eyes...2 big fingers of semi cocoa head, jet black, some bubbles lazily meandering up from the bottom, stick lacing paints down the sides of the glass, certainly looks like an impy stout

nose...oddly grainy (odd for the style), chocolate notes, the grain note is strong and reminds me of fresh backed rye bread, some sweetness is also fighting for attention, interesting

taste etc...nice and smooth, perfect velvet carbonation, the mouthefeel is just right there, full and foamy, almost guiness with nitro esque quality, the higher ABV is barely noticeable save for a smidge of the ole warm elbow to the gut, some chocolate flavors with a light cocoa powder finish, slight bitterness is detectable beyond the mostly sweet notes

verdict?nothing about this beer speaks to me, but it is not a dumper, kind of a really enjoyable trip with no surprises, worth checking out for the tones where it steps outside the style